> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://resources.athenaintel.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Connect your own email and files
> Answers that draw on the email and files you already have access to.
**Optional:** The course works with the [Northwind starter kit](/docs/athena-101/starter-kit). Connecting your own email and files may need an admin.
This step is optional. Connect your own email and files here, or skip it, and the course works with the Northwind starter kit. Then you'll ask one question across all of it.
Connect once, and Athena can read your email, files and sites as you. Open Integrations, and pick File Storage. The SharePoint card connects your Microsoft 365 account. Click Connect. You sign in as yourself, in Microsoft's own window. Athena never sees your password. When the window closes, Athena has your access, no more. Your sites keep connecting in the background. An admin turns this on first. Some workspaces connect you at sign-in, so it may already be done.
Next, check what Athena can now use. Click Connected catalogs. Your Sources lists what came through from your sign-in: your mailbox and calendar, OneDrive, the SharePoint sites you can open, and your Teams channels. Click Sites to check one type at a time. If something you need isn't here, check your Microsoft access, which sources your workspace has turned on, and whether the connection has finished.
Pin the sources you use most, so Athena looks there first. Click the pin on Northwind Operations. To quiet a noisy source, go back to All, and turn on Show hidden, so hidden rows stay in view. Then hide the Carrier Desk channel. The row stays, dimmed. Neither one changes access. A hidden source is still yours, and you can still name it in a question.
Now put the connection to work. Start a new chat, and ask for a meeting brief that needs your email and your files together. Athena searches your mailbox, then your SharePoint sites, and reads what it finds. It lists the open questions, each linked to the email or page it came from. Point at a link to see the source. One click opens it. That is what connecting gives you: answers you can check against your own email and files.
Quick check. You hid a Teams channel. Can Athena still read it if you name it? Yes. Hiding changes where Athena looks by default, not what it can open.
A finance team connects once, then pins its month-end site. Before each review, they ask for a brief that pulls the latest emails and the current workbook. Every point links back to its source.
Try it in your own workspace with this prompt. When it works, you'll see an email search, a files search, and a link on every point.
## Before you start
Upload these files from the [Northwind starter kit](/docs/athena-101/starter-kit): **Contracts/Harbor Line contract.pdf** and the email files in **Lesson 01**. These are optional practice files.
Ask your admin to enable connections and approve your access. If connections are unavailable, upload these files and ask about them in chat. Pinning and hiding connected sources are watch-only without a connection.
## Steps
Open **Integrations**, choose **File Storage**, and click **Connect** on **SharePoint**. Sign in with your own Microsoft account.
Open **Connected catalogs** and read **Your Sources**. Check which accounts, files, sites, and channels arrived; allow the connection to finish.
Pin the sources you use most. Use **Show hidden** when hiding a noisy source; pinning and hiding shape context without changing access.
Ask for a meeting brief that needs both email and files. Open a citation and check the source behind an open question.
## Try it
> Prepare me for my next meeting with \[partner]. Find the latest emails and documents, list open questions, and link each one to its source.
Look for email and file searches, with a citation on every point.
## Other tools
These connections are optional and may need your admin’s approval. You can continue the course with the starter kit.
### Bring your own files into your answers
### Bring your calendar into meeting preparation
### Ask questions about your business data
### Use your approved reports in an answer
### Ask about your team’s shared data
## Next
[Get your first useful answer](/docs/athena-101/02-first-answer)
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